


The Best Sled

by katjh



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Crack, Gen, Humor, Sledding, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-30
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-23 00:46:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/616196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katjh/pseuds/katjh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Apparently there aren't any sleds in Avengers Tower, so Clint improvises.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Something was off, Steve realized as he unwrapped his hands. He'd spent his usual hour punching the hell out of a speed bag in the gym, but something wasn't right. Bruce was meditating in the corner, or possibly asleep while sitting up. Tony hadn't emerged from his lab, but that wasn't unusual. Thor was probably still asleep... Clint and Natasha weren't sparring, but it was a Tuesday, so Clint could be at the range.  
Something was off...

He decided not to worry about it and took his shower. When he came out, he said, "Bruce, how does breakfast sound?"

Bruce opened his eyes and stretched out his legs. "If you're cooking," he said.

Thor was awake, it turned out. He had made an entire box of Poptarts, which he offered to both Steve and Bruce. Steve turned them down because they were too sugary; growing up in the Depression and wartime meant he rarely got a chance to eat candy, and so he'd never really developed a sweet tooth. Bruce tried to eat healthy, so he opted for the omelette Steve was making.

"It snowed," Thor informed them, pointing out the window. "It began late last night, and it is still snowing now. Do you often get so much of it?"

Steve turned from the stove and looked out the window. The tower was too high up for him to be able to see the ground, but sure enough, fat snowflakes were whipping past the glass. "I don't know about these days," Steve said, "but I can remember storms where the snow was up to my knees. I was a lot smaller then," he amended.

Bruce hummed in agreement. "The forecast said it'd be ten inches or so."

"The archer and the Widow invited me to some sort of battle and fun activities," Thor said. "Clint called it 'sledding', though he did not explain it." He paused. "He also asked where your shield was, Captain, but assured me there were no Frost Giants."

Steve's head whipped up and he turned around with the frying pan in his hand; fortunately, nothing splashed out and he dumped the cooked omelette onto a plate. "Clint took my shield?" he repeated. THAT was what had been off in the gym. He knew something was missing.

"I thought it was strange," Thor began, but he was cut off by the ding of the elevator and the sound of laughter as Clint and Natasha walked onto the floor.

"I probably shouldn't let you loose on anyone in a snowball fight," Natasha was saying.

Clint had Steve's shield on his back and was pulling off his heavy black gloves with his teeth. "'S not my fault they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Hey, is there any food for us?"

Bruce frowned. "It's ten in the morning. What were you doing?"

Clint kicked off his boots, which were dripping melted snow, and took the shield off his back and placed it carefully against the wall. "Snowball fight and sledding before the hills got too crowded," he explained. "Hey, Cap, we borrowed your shield. Hope you don't mind. It makes a great saucer sled."

"You WHAT?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The other side of the story.

"Tasha."  
She was awake in an instant with her gun leveled at Clint. He didn't even flinch. "What are you doing?" she asked.  
He walked over to the window and pulled aside the curtains. "It snowed," he said. "I was thinking we could go sledding before it gets too crazy out there."  
Natasha looked at her phone. It was almost five in the morning. "You get the sleds and I'll meet you outside in twenty minutes."  
"Thanks," Clint said, and he ran out of her room.

They had a standing agreement from a long time ago. It had been a cold winter in New York, but not a particularly snowy one, and somehow Natasha talked Clint into going ice skating with her. She dodged the children and the teens on dates, doing jumps and spins with ease. Clint followed on hockey skates, a little jealous of her grace. He agreed to do a few catches as long as he didn't have to jump and twirl. Afterwards, they got hot chocolate and sat under a streetlamp. Natasha talked about wanting to be a ballerina, about learning to skate in Russia, about the first time she saw the Olympics and saw the girls in their glittery outfits. Clint told her about the time the circus got caught too far north in a cold snap, and how instead of having to do his act, he got a chance to wander around, and he saw a bunch of kids playing hockey on a frozen pond. He bought skates and joined a beer-league team for a while, before SHIELD made his schedule too erratic.

The next year, it snowed, and Clint took Natasha sledding. They stole two lunch trays from the SHIELD mess and used those until Clint broke one on a particularly hard landing off the jump they had made, and then they had a half-serious snowball fight that ended when Clint stuffed snow down the front of Natasha's coat and in retaliation, she kicked him face-first into a snowdrift.

They'd already been ice skating this winter, on a frigid day with no missions or emergencies. It was only fair that Natasha joined Clint to go sledding, and they preferred having the hills all to themselves so they could race down or not worry about having to dodge wayward children.

She made it down silently and stepped outside. It was still dark and her breath fogged in the cold air. Clint stood with his back against the wall, watching snowflakes fall from the sky.  
"Do you have a sled?" Natasha asked, voice low. It felt wrong to disturb the tranquility here, the way the snow seemed to muffle the whole world.  
Clint shrugged. "Apparently Tony Stark has seven sports cars and a jetski, but no sleds. Fortunately, I know how to improvise. I've got one lunch tray that'll last a few runs, maybe more if we don't take it on jumps."  
Natasha nodded. "And what else?"  
Clint grinned and stood up straight. Strapped to his back was a very familiar disk. "I think Cap's shield is more than up to the challenge."  
Natasha smiled. "I'm not going to protect you when he realizes what you did."  
"So what?" Clint said, starting off to their usual sledding spot. "I can tell you, this is going to be worth it."


End file.
